The Golden Girl
by bandkid4life
Summary: Elizabeth Rogers wanted two things for her life: to marry her boyfriend and graduate college. Unfortunately for her, fate had something different planned. When her bus en route to Oxford University is destroyed and the group within taken hostage, she finds herself thrown into the messiest of situations. Hey, at least the food is good. Bucky/OC CATFA-Endgame. Rating may change.
1. Chapter 1

**March 13th, 1940. Brooklyn, New York, 1900 Hours**

* * *

"Come on, Goldlilocks, keep up!"

"Bucky, my legs aren't as long as your, you'll be gone with the wind by the time I even attempt to catch up!"

"Don't get snappy with me just 'cause you have legs like your brother, Lizzy."

A gasp. "I hope you know, my legs are longer than his. I'm actually normal sized!"

"Uh-huh, sure you are baby."

Bucky Barnes, hand tightly grasped around Elizabeth Roger's slightly smaller one, pulled her down a dimly lit alley near his apartment. He pressed her against the nearest wall, sealing his lips to her's, supressing her high pitched giggles in the shadows of the alleyway. They both kept their hands in modest places, her's around his neck and one of his on her waist(the other was pressed up on the wall above her head, though he wished he could put it somewhere else), realizing that anyone could walk up on them getting frisky in the alleyway. That thought only added to the thrill as it crossed his mind. He pressed one, two, three more pecks onto her lips before pulling away and resting his forehead on her's.

"I love you, you know that?" He said with a huskiness to his voice.

She smiled, redden lips stretching over bright, white teeth before she leaned up to kiss him. "I love you too, James."

He let out a groan which caused laughter to fall from her lips once again. If he was being honest with himself, her laugh was like a drug to him. Cigarettes and alcohol were addicting enough but add the myrthful laugh of Elizabeth Rogers into that sinful mix and he was a goner, an enternal buzz forever coursing through his veins. Luckily enough he was completely sober (for the most part) due to Steve hiding his beer, the shortie spouting some nonsense that he had to be 'completely aware for the next couple of hours'.

Bucky mused he could probably do this better when buzzed.

"Come on, _Elizabeth_, we've got somewhere to be."

He grabbed her hand again and pulled her out of the alley. Giggling, Elizabeth began to swat at his hand as he pulled her down the streets. Older couples watched as the two twenty-somethings hurried down the street filling it with laughter. They were a subtle blur of dulled down blues and grays in the hazy evening lights.

Eventually they reached their stop, a small pear looking over the Brooklyn Bridge. It was darker than the streets, the incandescent lights overhead bathing the pavement below in a soft yellow. Bucky brought her over to the fencing in front of the water front. Her smile was breathtaking as she surveyed the water and only grew larger as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Why'd you take me here?" She asked him as she leaned back into his embrace.

"It's probably the last night I'll be able to spend alone with you before Steve decides he's gonna take all your time." He mumbled as he nuzzled his head into her neck. His breath met her neck as he began to speak, "Also, I'm not gonna let my girl go across seas without somethin' to remember me by."

She sighed and brought one hand into his neatly combed hair. "Bucky, you know I won't forget you. I promised I'd write you every week, and us Rogers keep our promises."

"I know you do, baby, but I gotta let those Englishmen know that you're already taken."

Bucky unwrapped himself from around her and began to fiddle in his jacket pocket. Elizabeth, too curious for her own good, turned around to face him. His usually calm, confident face was marred with nervousness and fear.

"Bucky…what's wrong?"

He breathed out before taking one of her hands in his, the other tucked into his pocket still.

"Elizabeth Rogers, my love, my heart, I never thought I'd see you like this. You're beautiful, intelligent, witty, and kind. You're truly the apple of my eye, even if you tried to poke 'em out with rocks and slingshots when we were younger with your damned good aim, and I'm so happy you decided you wanna deal with me." A small smile appeared on her face as he talked, spurring him to continue. "I know we've only been together a year, but I've known you almost my whole life. I know you hate the color red and they way your brother parts his hair. I know you hate cookin' even if you're very _very_ good at it. I know you always like to wear blue because it reminds you of your pa. You're probably my best friend besides Steve. You're an incredibly woman, baby, and I'm so happy to have you at my side as my girl." He tightened his grip on her hand, using it as a balance as he slipped down on one knee.

She gasped, tears beginning to form in her eyes as her free hand went up to her mouth in shock.

"Will you do me the honor of having you by my side as a wife?"

Her head was nodding and a quiet 'yes' slipped her lips before he even pulled the ring out from his pocket, but she knew she didn't have to see the small piece of jewelry for the commitment. Albeit, it was a nice sentiment to have a glittering rock on her finger to show her friends, but she knew that if he asked her to marry her without the rock she'd say yes. When he pulled out the small, oval cut diamond encased in a silver band she knew he was the right one. It was just like her, simple yet elegant.

"Baby, you gotta give me your hand so I can slip the ring on." He teased, yanking lightly on the hand he had clutched in his.

The shaky hand came down from her mouth far enough for him to grasp it and slip the ring on the correct finger. Pressing a kiss into the palm of her hand, Bucky got up from his knee and collected Elizabeth into a hug. She wrapped her arms around his neck again, pressing a tear stained face into his black jacket. Pulling away just enough to look at her, Bucky leaned down and captured her lips in a passionate kiss. He herded her against the fence, one hand gripping the iron tightly while the other dug into her side crinkling the fabric of her shirt. She let out a small, almost inaudible moan before letting one of her hands snake up to his hair. He took the opportunity to slip his tongue into her mouth, plundering the cavern only to find another moan buried deep. By now his smoothed back hair was all kinds of mused but it didn't really matter to him. All that mattered was the girl he held tightly against him.

"I love you." She stated proudly when she pulled away from him. "I love you so much Bucky."

"I love you too, baby." He replied in the same tone. He brought the other hand to her side and squeezed, "We should probably head back. Steve'll be worried about us and you know how his asthma acts up when he's nervous."

"He knew? How'd he manage to keep it a secret?"

Bucky laughed as he pulled away from her, his hand slotting comfortable into hers. "Well we've been practically family for years. He thought it was time we make it official. He's the one that suggested I take you here."

"Bucky, you're not takin' on the Rogers name. The guys at the docks won't let you hear the end of it."

"They're not gonna let me hear the end of it when they find out I popped the question to you and you agreed. Readily. They said they were takin' a bet to if you'd say yes. More than half thought you were gonna say no."

She rolled her eyes and squeezed his hand. "I wouldn't dream of sayin' no to you."

He cracked a smile. "That's what I told 'em."

The pair kept light conversation as they walked, possibly getting side tracked in an alley or two on the way back. Bucky kept bringing their twined hands to his mouth for a kiss before he'd be swatted away by her free hand and blessed with a rosy blush dusting her pale cheeks. By the time they reached his and Steve's apartment her face was beat red like a tomato. Bucky was laughing at her redden face as he pushed open the door, knowing full well that Steve kept it unlocked when he was home.

"Steve, we're back!"

A thump could be heard from somewhere in the apartment followed by a string of not-so-nice words. Bucky and Elizabeth shared an amused looked as a small, blond haired man came stumbling out of one of the two closed doors. With charcoal smeared on his hands and face, Steve approached the couple with an uneasy look.

"And?"

Bucky's grin grew almost chesire. "She said yes."

The screams of happiness could probably be heard from down the street due to the thin walls of their shared apartment, but Steve couldn't bring himself to care as he wrapped his sister in a hug. Their heads were almost level with each other, Elizabeth's only a bit above his. Pulling away quickly, Steve moved to wrap his arms around his friend.

"Welcome to the family, Buck." Steve exclaimed happily.

"I didn't know I'd left!"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and left the pair, letting herself relax in the slightly stiff couch nearby. Despite the nerves of flying and leaving home she knew she'd have to enjoy this night.

And enjoy it she did, especially a couple of hours later as she was wrapped in the arms of her love. She was sweaty, hot, and aching, but she wouldn't had traded it for the world. Bucky was flush to her back pressing light kisses and whispering sweet nothings into her neck. It was perfect, and she knew she'd never want to be anywhere else.

Little did she know it would be a long time until she was wrapped in his arms once again.

* * *

**March 15th, 1940. Brooklyn, New York. 1000 hours**

* * *

Bucky was working away at the docks, lugging and throwing boxes onto and off of ships. It was routine for him this manual labor. The almost-too-big shirt he wore was sliding off his shoulders from the stretching and sweat, but he wasn't uncomfortable. Joey, one of his coworkers, had thrown on some jazz tunes to give them a rhythm while working. Bucky let the smooth trumpet flow through his veins as the boxes he lifted tried so hard to rupture them.

_"Breaking news-"_

All the men groaned loudly from the music stop. The station had recently just put on one of his favorite from that flat musical Steve made him go see. Cole Porter's voice began to pour from the beaten speakers before the clipped, radio voice began to broadcast instead of the catchy tunes.

_"-Ten university students, chosen by scholars at Oxford, were en route to the prestigious school late yesterday evening. Their bus flipped in what could have been some type of Nazi scheme. With the tensions in Europe building, it is possible that this could have been an act of war against America. No one is for sure. Among the ten students were: Anthony Collidge from Western Michigan, Howard Cloud from North Dakota State-"_

He let his eyes shut, not wanting the tears to roll down his face. He was a man, and men didn't cry. He didn't want to seem like a sap for Christ's sake. As the names were listed, his heart began to beat faster and faster. Maybe it wouldn't be her. Maybe it was a different group of students.

_"-and the last, a young woman from her in our hometown of Brooklyn, Elizabeth Rogers from Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institue."_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Hi Everyone! Thank you for reading! **_

_**I started this from a one shot I had planned, but then i decided to just go ahead and publish it. If you guys have read my stuff before, then you know I can be pretty horrible about updating, but I'm going to try my hardest to keep updating once every week(ish) :)**_

_**Thank you for the positive feedback already! You have no idea how cool it is to see people reading this!**_

_**Enjoy!**_

* * *

**Bavarian Alps, Germany, 0200 Hours, April 17th, 1939**

* * *

The room was well lit with a bright, white light dangling from the ceiling. The lighting was sleek in design, made to dangle and distract while the soldiers took them one by one. In the months that the group had been stuck there, they had taken five. Five men, each never coming back. Five men who were the brightest of their respective classes and chosen to go and learn something in a country ridden with tensions pointing towards war. If this didn't get the US to join the 'war', no one wanted to see what would.

Out of the five that had been taken, three of them had been athletes. Anthony Collidge was an upcoming track and field star, because not only could he run, but also _jump_ like no white man had seen someone jump. He was the first to go, being dragged out on day one of capture and never to be seen again. After was William Hargrove, another athlete from California. He had tried coming onto Elizabeth three times before their capture, and she finally got the courage to flash her ring and smack him with her engineering book. It was horrible on her part, but she wasn't sad or afraid to see the dunderhead leave. After them Howard Cloud, Buster McCoy, and Gregory Hilt were taken, never to be heard from again. Liz noted in her mind that they'd taken the stupid degrees out first. Out of the five, three had been Political Science and two Historical studies. She saw this as the typical 'going to school to get your pops off your back' tactic.

Many of the guys who tried to get with her were the same.

They had all known who she was as soon as she stepped onto the airplane. The buzz from her recent 'extravaganza' with _the_ Howard Stark had been recorded and showcased all over every newspaper in the United States. A poor person, and a woman no less, could keep with the fast working brain of Howard, and winning his scholarship that paid her way through the rest of college. After all, she was the one who gave him some ideas on how to make a flying car actually work. He had endearingly called it his 'hovercar', but she knew that it could do things besides hover. Howard Stark was so impressed that he offered the girl a job as soon as she graduated despite the complaints of his other engineers. It was _really_ the only way that she could get the scholarship money.

Now, as she sat squished between two of her travel mates, she wished she would've just blended into the background. It would've been easy enough to pass by in her classes with just a normal grade and hope to not be noticed, but being a woman had its disadvantages. Needless to say, one professor gave her the ultimatum of 'get an A or suck his dick', and the latter of the two wasn't an option. She noticed that many of the men around her had begun to lose hope like she had on day one. It was obvious that they were never going to be rescued. Ever.

_**SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEECH**_**.**

The door opened loudly, causing all of the students to life their heads and watch as the two masked soldiers came into their room. Liz had cringed at the noise, goosebumps covering her arms at the unappealing screech. Instead of the usual glop that they called food in on of their hands, both held rifles that looked far beyond what the United States had. Liz would know. Howard showed her those too.

"Wo ist der Ingenieur?"

One of the few left in the room, a small man by the name of Jeremy, glanced over at Liz. "Shit, Lizzy, they're asking for you. What should I say?"

"Tell them it's me, Jer. I'll be fine." She replied back. Her hands went down to her dress, nervously fiddling with the frayed, graying edges.

A guard stepped up to the group, raising the butt of his rifle to Jeremy's face. He repeated himself harshly. "Wo ist der Ingenieur?"

"D-Das Frau." Jeremy stuttered out. "Das Frau ist wer du willst. Sie est sehr schlau."

The guard dropped his rifle to one arm and used the other to grab Elizabeth by the arm. She yelped and bit her tongue as the leather chaffed against her abused skin. As the one guard pulled her out of the door, the other locked it, muffling the outraged cries of the men left in the room. Pulling her quickly in their destination, the guards made their way down the circular corridor. The sheer lack of food and water blurred her vision as they made their way towards their destination. Had they been giving the group more than one meal a day to share, maybe she would've been strong enough to escape.

She didn't know anything about Germany, so escape wasn't an option.

She was taken into a small room with a table and two chairs. On the table lay a tray full of food and a white glass filled almost to the brim with water. Just seeing it made her mouth water and hand shake. It had been so long since her last meal, maybe two or three days. The group had started to ration off the portions that they got, splitting two and three each day the food came. Being as Elizabeth was the smallest one, she never got her fill of the food like the others did. They left her scraps and scrapings of the gray mush.

"You can eat it, if you'd so like."

Elizabeth jumped at the voice behind her. Turning quickly, she backed up as fast as she could to the nearest wall. She was completely ready to pounce as pound her weakened fists into whoever decided it was a good idea to sneak up on her. Instead of seeing a man in a suit with no face she saw a man in a lab coat with a friendly smile. His smile didn't reach his eyes, but it was friendly enough to ease her nerves.

"What if it's poisoned?" She asked, her voice cracking. "What if I die?"

The man laughed. "Trust me, if it were poisoned I would be dead already."

Liz kept her gaze on the man and her back to the wall. He gave her another smile and walked towards the food, taking a green bean from the tray and popping it into his mouth. He chewed, swallowed, and glanced down at the watch on his wrist.

"With the poison I've seen them use, young one, I'd be dead already. Please. Eat."

Keeping her eyes on the man, Liz began to slowly ease herself forward. Her steps were light despite her shaking, and by the time she reached the seat she all but fell into. She grabbed the fork and dug into the meal greedily, relishing in the fact that, _yes_ the mashed potatoes were actually real potatoes.

Steve would be so jealous.

At the thought of her brother, Liz eased up on her zealous devouring of the food in front of her. She glanced up at the man who, while she was distracted by the best potatoes and green beans she'd ever had, had taken the seat in front of her. She grabbed the glass of water, keeping her eyes on him as she took large gulps.

"So, I heard you are an engineering student. Strange, considering they thought it would be a man." The man pushed up his glasses and adjusted his position in the chair. "I believe I saw the news article about you, Elizabeth Rogers. The way you disassembled and reassembled that car engine was astounding."

"But it wasn't in the fastest time. I don't even know why I won." She said as she chewed on a green bean. Her ma would _kill_ her for the lack of manners, but Liz was sure the woman could give her daughter a break from her seat in heaven. "Michael Yates finished faster than I did and he didn't win."

"You won, my dear, because you were the only person in that room to put it together correctly, and with the least amount of extra screws left behind." The man leaned on the table, elbows propping his face as he watched her eat.

"So," Elizabeth paused as she took a large sip of water, draining the cup completely, "What does that mean for me? What are you trying to do, butter me up so then you can lay me out like a dinner loaf? Fatten me up and show me off like an award winning pig?."

The man shook his head as he sat back. "No. Unfortunately I have as little say in any of this as you do. I am a prisoner, just as you are, though I am treated with the highest respect. Tell me, dear one, do you know who I am?"

She sat back in her chair, fully belly protruding in after food glory. Letting her eyes graze over the man, she finally, _finally_, got a good look at him. Inquisitive brown eyes with a friendly face and wild graying hair, with circular glasses and a panama style hat. She kept her attention on his face, studying it until her eyes widened.

"You're Abraham Erskine."

He smiled. "That I am. If Howard Stark took notice in you then I should too. I have a proposition for you, Elizabeth, a proposition that will benefit us both until we can escape."

Her eyes went wide and began to shift from his face to the door. "You mean to escape?"

"Yes. If you help me I will take you along with me."

There was a long pause, Liz choosing to glue her eyes to Erskine and think. He could practically see the steam coming from the girls head, gears turning hard in her intelligent brain. Eventually, fazed eyes connected with his.

"Ok, I'll do it. What exactly do I have to do?"

"You must help me create a super solider serum."


	3. Author's Note

**Hello friends!**

**Sorry, this isn't an update. I just wanted to let you all know that I am working furiously to try and get the update to you. Life has been a bit crazy, but now that everything is on track and I have some time to finally just sit down and _write_, I should hopefully get it to you by the end of the week.**

**Thank you for being so patient with me!**


	4. Chapter 3

_**See? What did I tell you. A chapter up, with inspiration for another coming quickly.**_

_**I plan to have the next one up by Sunday at the latest! **_

_**Please leave a like or a comment! Let me know if you like it! Or if you don't!**_

* * *

**Bavarian Alps, Germany, 1900 Hours, November 25th, 1940**

* * *

Liz had regretted taking the doctor up on his offer as soon as she set off to work.

She had watched may of her travel mates die in agony over the past couple of months, dying in the name of 'science'. Doctor Erskine wasn't too happy about it either. However, when you have an angry, Nazi sympathizer with a knack for killing people breathing down your throat to get the job done, you learn to get past the hiccups and keep moving forward.

'Hiccups' included one (or potentially more, Liz had kind of blocked it out of her memory at this point) guy literally melting through the straps in a dizzying mess of flesh, blood, and whatever was oozing and steaming through his pores. Another had just died, randomly. Neither Erskine nor Liz were sure if it was because of the serum or because of the radiation being pumped into his body.

Liz made it a point to never let anyone test with gamma radiation again, not while she was around at least. If that poor soul wanted to test the boundaries of pure, unadulterated rage, she would steer clear from their death wish. Poor Jeremy had turned an ungodly shade of green and began to get very angry before passing out and dying. The others had found their fate in a similar fashion, one even tearing at his restraints and throwing a scalpel at Liz before his demise. They had hit a partial success when Liz tried to play with a new sort of radiation to push towards their test subjects. Vita Radiation had stabilized the final few before their ultimate demise (and, of course, melting through the leather straps. That was their _big_ find about the Vita radiation).

Eventually Liz became the only test subject available for a formula that continuously killed whoever was caught in its path, and something that had yet to yield any sort of successful result. A test subject that Doctor Erskine wasn't ready to put under the microscope.

"Absolutely not! I will not let your sacrifice yourself to save my skin!" Erskine's face had become red with rage. He ran a hand over his forehead, using the other to lean on the nearby table.

"C'mon doc! I'm the only one who wasn't a full-blown beefcake!" Liz stated as she began to strap herself to the testing table. Feet first, she secured the leather straps to her dirtied legs. "I couldn't afford the sports, so I studied. I'm as weak as you're gonna get around here and I don't see anyone else lining up to get your giggle juice. I'm expendable, you're not."

"No! You are not expendable! Even now, as we sit here and argue, you are helping me. I would have never gotten this far without your help!" Erskine's face was become red with rage, a rarity to see.

Liz gave him a small smile, releasing the straps and beginning to strap her arms down. "And now, you'll get even farther. Look, doc, this is how it has to be. I don't want you dying too."

He glared at her over his glasses but grabbed the nearby vial of serum, nonetheless. With a steady hand, Erskine fed the tube of the need with his bright blue creation. Flicking the needle once, twice to rid it of air bubbles, the doctor neared her with the glare still set on his face.

"No matter what happens, I am not happy with you." He grumbled, grabbing a cleansing cloth to wipe the injection sight. Pressing the needle to the inside of her arm, close to a vein, the doctor gave the woman one last wary glance.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

She gave him a smile. "No, but this is what Stevey would do."

Giving the girl a small smile, Erskine broke skin with the needle and injected the serum as quickly as possible. He pulled out the needle and pressed a nearby cloth to the injection sight to stop the bleeding. He watched the face of the young woman before him, taking note as her face shifted from the scared smile to twisted in pain. She closed her eyes and bared her teeth.

"Elizabeth?"

She couldn't hear him over the lava rushing through her body, up to her ears, and down her spine all at once. The pain was like one hundred thousand tiny men with spiky shoes decided to trample her insides, all while poking whatever was around them with hot skewers fresh off a fire. She shut her eyes and clenched her teeth, trying to keep the screams down as the fire tore through her body. The young woman didn't even make a sounds before she passed out on the table, head lulled and mouth open as if to scream in pain.

Erskine went quickly into action, grabbing his stethoscope from a nearby table to check her pulse. Pressing it to her chest, the doctor sighed in relief when he heard the rapidly beating heart underneath.

"Is she alive, Doctor?"

Erskine tensed, his hand staying still over the chest of the young woman.

"Yes, Mr. Schmidt, she is indeed alive." Erskine turned to the man with a serious look on his face. "Just barely. She is the only one to have survived this long."

"That is good, then." Schmidt nearer the girl, taking off his black glove to caress her face. "Truly a beautiful woman. I do hope she survives to see her fiancé and her brother. Tell me, doctor, do you know what their names are?"

Erskine, with a frown on his face, pushed his glasses up. "Yes, she talked about them. Steve and Bucky."

"Oh, Doctor, do not talk about her like she is dead." Schmidt remover his hand from her face. Placing his glove back onto her hand, he turned to gave Erskine. "She will wake up, I know it. Have the serum ready for me to try this evening."

"It is not ready for a test with a subject such as yourself."

"'Such as myself'? Tell me, Doctor, how am I any different from this drecksau? Filthy American! I am much stronger than she is! An elite force of nature to serve the Fuhrer!" The red that spread across Schmidt's face gave radiated in the bright light of the lab.

"Are you serving Hitler? Or are you serving yourself?"

Schmidt turned on a heel to head towards the laboratory door. Before exiting, he turned back to the doctor, and raised the gun that was previously on his belt. The warning shot flew past Erskine and into the arm of Elizabeth.

"This evening, Doctor Erskine, and no later."

The door slammed shut behind him leaving Erskine with a woman bleeding from her arm. He quickly jumped into action, grabbing a scalpel to remove whatever of the bullet he could. Alcohol went over himself and the utensil, making sure that, to the best of his ability, that no germs would affect the only living test subject he ever had. He cute quickly into her skin, removing bullet fragments as best he could, and only getting more flustered and frustrated as the skin began to close up on him. Having to cut open growing layers of the epidermis was not in his training.

Erskine threw down the scalpel and stepped back from his unconscious friend. Without the interruption of the scalpel and his hand, the skin closed over the wound and left a small, puckered white spot in its place. The doctor couldn't believe his eyes and lifted up his glasses a couple of times to make sure his sleep deprived brain wasn't the cause. For curiosity's sake, he sliced the scalpel down her arm and watched as the line quickly healed and faded into the skin.

"My God." He muttered to himself. He scurried over to his notes, jotting down the information. His mind was working overtime to try and wrap his head around the success. "It worked."

All the doctor could do was stand there and gape at his one success in this entire process. Tests still needed to be run to see what exactly had happened to this lucky woman, but nonetheless it was a success. Through his shock, he mused that she was the only one willing to help him, and maybe God took pity on her by saving her from a horrible, melting death.

Liz let out a groan a couple of minutes later, her eyes fluttering open. She tugged at the restraints on her legs, trying to pull them off but failing.

"Erskine?" Her voice was hoarse. "How'd I do?"

The doctor set to work releasing her from the restraints with shaky hands. Helping her to sit up, Erskine supported the majority of her weight on his shoulder.

"It worked. I am not sure how yet, but somehow the serum worked."

Liz could only give the Doctor a small smile. "Does this mean that we get to leave this hellhole soon, doc?"

"I sure hope so, Elizabeth." Erskine replied as he eyed the nearby serum. "I sure hope so."


	5. Chapter 4

_**Hello Everyone,**_

_**Sorry it has taken me so long to update. Life has been nuts, with moving and starting a new job and the coronavirus and all of that jazz. Hopefully I'll be able to start updating this more often!**_

_**For specific story telling reasons, I am skipping the rest of Liz's time with Erskine in captivity for now. Don't worry, it will be coming in eventually, but for the sake of the story this made **_**a lot_ more sense. You'll see in a couple of chapters._**

**_Please Enjoy! Leave a like or a comment!_**

* * *

**February 9th, 1943, 1800, Brooklyn, New York **

* * *

It had been a very long time since Elizabeth Rogers had seen snow. She watched carefully as the little flakes fell from the dark sky and landed on her fluffy, fur coat. Her hair, now a subtle brown, was hidden under one of Howard Stark's many newsboy hats. She was inconspicuous in her getup, letting her finally breathe and let go of her new facade.

No one could tell that it was little ole Liz Rogers underneath all of the expensive furs.

After being injected with the serum, the world seemed to turn upside down and throttle her straight for a wall. Shortly after the

Elizabeth Rogers was considered dead, after all. Blown to bits.

Betsy Ross was to work directly under Howard Stark in the 'Rebirth' project as his head engineer(besides himself, of course!). Needless to say, Liz has become an expert at hiding eye rolls from working with the overly flirtatious genius. She had to remind him multiple times that she was technically still engaged and flashed the ring on her finger to prove it.

("_Technically, you're dead._" He would always reply. "_But he's a handsome devil so I understand._")

She carded her fingers through the brown locks and brought a few into her line of sight. A frown set over her tired features as her brisk pace came to a slow halt. She mused that Bucky probably wouldn't have been happy at her change of hair color, even if he was in it for the dark haired ladies. He'd run his hair through the long locks as they relaxed and talked after a long day. Liz would tease that he'd just had a thing for hair, and her lover readily agreed.

She sighed.

"Come on, Lizzy, we've got places to be and people to see and I'm not getting any younger."

The chipper, obnoxious voice made Liz frown as she released her hair. "Yes, Howard, I would have to agree with yah. I can see the wrinkles on your fat head from here."

"You wound me!" The genius gasped out as he fell in line with his favorite engineer. "Think of everything I've done for you."

A smirked crossed her face as she began to walk with him. "I think I've already thanked you enough."

"You can thank me more with dinner on Saturday night."

"No. Now, come on. I'm ready to work on this hover car as a break from the army nonsense for a little bit. Are you sure you want me to be there? Won't people recognize me?"

Howard gave her a signature smirk. "No, doll. With what I'm going to have you wearing, you being the long lost sis of a short stack won't even cross their minds."

"I'm not wearing one of those cheesy outfits you bought me. I'll stick to my coveralls." Liz glanced over at Howard, rolling her eyes at his smirk

Rounding a corner of a street and stopping in front of a dark, apartment door, Howard kept his smirk on his face and propped the door open with his foot.

"Don't snap you're cap, Liz. You know I'm just yanking your chain. I'm your replacement until you get back into your brother's grasp, but I gotta keep up appearances and all."

The wink that followed had Elizabeth rolling her eyes once more. "Of course you do, Howie."

The pair continued to bicker, conversation flowing freely from them. Conversations like these, loose lipped and sometimes dirty, no longer shocked the people that the pair worked with. Howard was a _known_ flirt, and Liz would always reply that her brother was an art student and her fiance a dock worker. Constantly checking in on two young men was sure to implant words in her mind, and with it the jokes and snide remarks to match. It was less about _how_ offensive the subject matter, but how quickly one of the scientists could get the touch on their opponent. The riposte to follow was nothing short of entertaining.

Their work for the expo had been going on for days. Normally, they'd pop into Howard's home to work on the car, but sometimes the intelligent pair needed to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyone else. Liz had suggested they rent out somewhere nearby to do their work, and Howard all but agreed. Anything to keep his main girl happy. It was nights like these where the two just relaxed and settled into their work. It truly was easy to do when you didn't have to think about the war effort.

While she had been helping Howard through his part of Rebirth, Erskine had been trying to find time to run tests the young woman. Since her injection with one of the earlier batches of the serum, she hadn't shown any signs of difficulty. In fact, Liz hadn't shown any signs of anything note worthy at all. This turn of events caused Erskine to become confused and frustrating, stating that the girl was perhaps immune to the properties of the serum or that she had just gotten _very_ lucky. Many of her former traveling companions hadn't been so fortunate as to survive the injection.

"So, have they given you any sort of timeline as to when you can see your brother and lover again?" Howard's voice carried from his position under the car. He had decided to mess with the components underneath, making sure that yes, one of his idiot engineers did actually connect the oil line correctly.

Liz was stationed at the back, checking to make sure her handiwork hadn't received any sort of ding, scratch, or knick. "Nothing. As far as I'm concerned, I'll never get to talk to Steve or Bucky again. Kinda sad, you know?"

"Unless one of those lucky 'Rebirth' SOB's ends up being one of them." Howard grunted, slipping his hand towards the edge of the car. "Hey, can you pass me the socket wrench? Something came loose underneath here. Damned Ulysses. Idiot doesn't know how to screw anything properly besides a dame."

"Sure," she replied, grabbing the wrench from the table nearby. She walked it over to him, plopping it into his palm. "And the only one who'd jump on that would be Steve. He's an eager beaver for anything patriotic to try and live up to our pops."

"Your father a soldier, Rogers?"

The woman nodded before realizing that Howard was still underneath the car. "Yes, and my mother was a field nurse. I guess you could say this stuff is in our blood. And I know-shit!"

Sliding out quickly from underneath the car, Howard was met with the sight of Liz bleeding heavily from her arm. A piece of metal stuck out from the back with little speckles of red shining in the intense lighting. He swore and grabbed a nearby rag.

"I'm fine, Howard." She forced out as he came running towards her. "Really. I'm okay."

"Doll, you just sliced your arm open. I'm going to _kill_ whichever fathead didn't make sure the fucking sharp edge wasn't pointing out." Howard applied pressure to the wound. "It was probably Ulysses, the dumbass he is! He couldn't tell a butter knife from a steak knife if his life depended on it!"

"Seriously. I'll be _fine_."

"Let me go grab a bandage. Here, hold this. Apply pressure." He said as he scurried over to the nearby first aid kit. With shaky hands he opened the box, grabbing gauze before hastily shutting the door. The engineer took a couple of seconds to calm his racing heart before turning towards his friend. Him freaking out over the sight of blood wouldn't help Elizabeth whatsoever.

"Holy Shit."

When he turned, eyeing Elizabeth's arm, it took a couple of seconds before he stopped dead in his tracks. Liz stood there, bloody rag in hand, without a single scratch on her arm. The engineer raised his eyebrows and approached slowly to let his brain catch up to what he was seeing, blinking a couple times to make sure his sleep deprived brain wasn't showing him things. Liz gave him a wary look before taking the rag to her once injured arm to give it another once over.

"How the hell did you manage to do this, Liz?"

She glanced up at him, then back at her arm, taking a few minutes to sit in silence before answering.

"I think we should call the doctor."

* * *

Erskine was pleased to say the least.

It took everything in him not to leap for joy when he found Howard freaking out the next morning, bloodied arm and rag in hand with an amazing story to follow. As the retelling took place, the doctor had to satisfy his own curiosity (that yes, her serum was still working), and promptly sliced the woman's cheek. She didn't react, but glared angrily at the doctor as he watched, amazed, as the gash on her cheek closed up in front of him.

"Amazing. Truly. Your serum was closer to what I want then I thought it would be. Have you noticed anything else strange?"

"Maybe if you stop slicing me with knives I would answer you!" She spat as she swatted his armed hand away. "But no. I haven't."

"No increased durability or mental capacity? No heightened senses? You're definitely not stronger, that's for sure." The doctor dropped the knife on the nearby table and began to pace the length of the room.

Howard piped in, his voice strong despite his lack of sleep. "She's been calculating formulas in her head without a need for paper, doc. And she's always right. When I met her, she was smart, but not _this_ smart."

"Shut your fat mouth, Howard Stark. We both know I've always been smarter than you."

"I won't agree or disagree, doll, I'm just saying that you're even smarter than usual."

"At any rate, I need to test you before we start Project Rebirth. Perhaps..._something_ in your genes could unlock what I need for the serum to work. Come by my lab tomorrow morning. I'll have breakfast for you before we runt the tests!" With that, the doctor promptly left with high spirits. You could see the pep in his step as he eagerly walked out the door, leaving the two engineers to their engineering ways.

Howard turned to Liz, a smirk on his face. "So, super serum?"

"Shut the hell up, Howard."


	6. Chapter 5

**_Please Enjoy! Leave a like or a comment!_**

* * *

**April 9th, 1943, 1900 Hours, Queens, New York **

* * *

The Stark Expo was nothing short of extraordinary, everything that Howard had promised her and potentially more. Seeing so much innovation in one place made Liz giddy.

It was just chilly enough for Liz to need a jacket over her coveralls. You know, the bright blue coveralls with a _Stark _logo right on the upper right of the cloth. Her name, well nickname (_Lizzy_), was embroidered in a white thread on the left. On her shoulders was a familiar brown jacket, one that Howard may have had someone steal from a certain dock worker. Howard had reasoned that the familiar touch and smell would help his 'little lady friend' acclimate to being on her own. He may have been right, for Liz couldn't help but take a whiff of the familiar cologne every once in a while.

The months leading up to the expo were nothing but stress for the two engineers, what with consistent arguing and trying to make sure _"those dumbass engineers don't mess up again__"_. Howard didn't want to see the extraordinary sight of his friend's miraculous fast healing abilities.

He had wanted her up on that stage in one of the slinky little outfit with the hats. _Oh the hats_. Howard loved them so much that he bought an extra one for Liz even after she shut him down multiple times. It was worth it when she threw the hat back at him with a rosy blush covering her face and some very colorful words spewing out of her mouth in response. He had never caught the girl so...unprepared for one of his tricks.

That memory put a frown right onto Liz's face.

"_Look! That light is just killer-diller!_"

"_Barney! Get me a cup of joe from that stand over there! I'm shivering out of my hat!_"

"_Baby I ain't got the lettuce for that. Lemme ask my friend Pauly. **AYE! Pauly!**_"

"_I don't think that car'll fly, Gigi! Georgey says that the technology just doesn't exist. We don't got the dope for any of this._"

"_Agreed, Betsy, but that Howard Stark ain't no chicken. He's gonna make it work._"

"_I heard he's got some dame workin' for him. A little brunette gal from Brooklyn! My friend Tony says she looks like the girl who went missin' almost a year ago, you heard of her?_"

"_What was her name again? Margaret? No-Emily? No wait, I remember! It was-_"

"Elizabeth."

She looked up at Howard's smug face, the frown from earlier settling into her features. "What?"

"Are you ready for tonight? The future! My car's gonna be a hit, you wait." Howard adjusted his suit. "How do I look?"

"Howard, your a modern grand stander. The crowd will love _our_ car, especially since it's the only thing besides planes these people will see fly." Liz gave the engineer a small smile as she brushed her hair behind her ears.

Her hair, tied up in it's typical bandanna/bun style, was falling in front of her eyes due to it's rather messy upbringing. Liz was never the best at putting her hair up and preferred to wear it down. Her current work environment, whether it be the car or Rebirth, made her learn. And learn quickly. Especially after the last time when Eugene _accidentally_ (Liz never believed the short, stubby engineer) got her hair caught in a portion of their great project. Liz got so angry that her cheeks turned red, a common occurrence around the men of Rebirth.

"Listen, I didn't come to chitchat about my outfit, I came to warn you."

"Warn me? About what?"

Howard pointed into the crowd, and Liz followed his gaze. It took a second for her to find exactly what he was pointing at, but once she did she felt her blood run cold, her body heat up, and a bunch of other weird, conflicting feelings that Liz just couldn't put her finger on happen all at once. It felt like her skeleton was forcibly extracted from her body, only to have it replaced by metal injected by tiny little needles all over her body, or like she had just been hit by a freight train while being plastered to a wall. Like someone took her breath right from her, extracting it from her lungs only to choke her with it.

Far to the left, just a little past the _"The Receiver can hear too!"_ exhibit, standing next to a popcorn stand surrounded, yet ignored, was her brother. He was one of those people that you really couldn't find unless you were looking for him, especially because he was so small. It hadn't occurred to her at that moment in time, but looking back Liz realized that she was in fact looking for him. Like she was hoping for him to be at that exact convention.

His floppy, blond hair was greased to one side to showcase his bright eyes, slightly popping out of his far-too-big head. One hand was stuffed into his gray jacket to search for change in exchange for his box of popcorn while the other waved wildly as he chatted up the vendor. She could see the smile on his face as he talked, probably about his art, to the man who readily listened. Once Steve got his popcorn his eyes raced across the crowd in search of someone or something.

"Liz, you should go." Howard gripped her elbow lightly to grab her attention. "I know how much you want to see him, but you can't yet. We've gotta wait for the war to be over first before we start bringing you back into the world."

"He's right there, Howie. Looks just like the last time I saw him."

They would never talk about it after the fact, but this was the first time that Howard Stark had seen Elizabeth Rogers cry. He gripped her elbow a bit tighter and pulled her away from the wandering eyes of the crowd. He straightened himself before grabbing his handkerchief hidden in his suit jacket. "I know you miss him, doll, I do. But right now, you're involved in something that could get him killed. I know you want to let him know you're alive, but you need to protect him, okay?"

"Yeah, okay." She dabbed her eyes with the handkerchief. "As soon as the war is over, I'm going to find him."

"I know, doll. Now, back to important matters. Rose? Or no rose?" Howard, letting go of her elbow, motioned to his suit. He gave her a charming smile, motioning then to the rose that sat neatly on the front of his suit.

She smiled and sniffled. "You look great, Howard. The ladies will love you."

"And that's what we want. Hey, I've gotta go! Why don't you stop by Erskine at the recruitment center? I'm sure he'd love to see yah to talk about your fancy blood."

The engineer barked out a laugh as Liz tried to punch him, only to miss when Howard dodged her fists and hurried away. Grumbling to herself, Liz made her way to the recruitment center.

Howard had been right, Erskine had been happy to see her.

The doctor quickly went to babbling about Rebirth, the participants he had to chose from, and his excitement to finally see his creation be used for good. With the constant testing of her blood, Erskine had finally cracked what he had done wrong and, with a bit of altering and fine tuning, the serum was ready once the perfect candidate was selected. The good doctor couldn't stop talking about his project, and with Liz engaging him in the conversation, the two talked about anything but the project. It wasn't until a nurse popped in that the conversation came to a screeching halt.

"Doctor? There's a candidate in here you'll want to see." The nurse, Jackie if Liz remembered correctly, popped her head through the sheet divider. "We think he's been here a couple of times."

Erskine raised an eyebrow, looking back at Liz. "It seems that we have an eager beaver! Good! Show me to him."

And just like that, Liz was left to her own thoughts. Even with the buzz from the recruitment center, Liz couldn't help but bring herself back to earlier that night. She had seen him, her brother. Her best friend. Even now as she sat there thinking it was just a figment of her imagination, because what _were_ the odds that they would both be there at the exact same time? What were the odds that Bucky was there too? At the thought of his name her heart sank. Reaching to her neck, Liz clasped the chain around her neck, fingers brushing the smooth metal of her engagement ring. It was for the second time that night that tears began welling in her eyes with Liz trying to push them back.

She knew she couldn't see them now, not yet. It wasn't the time.

"Elizabeth?"

She didn't know she had shut her eyes, but when she opened them Erskine was in front of her with a file tucked underneath his arm. The doctor was giving her a small smile.

"I have something to show you, but you have to promise not to yell at me like you do Mr. Stark."

That got Liz's attention. She gave the doctor a sharp look before her eyes darted to the file in his arms. "I'm guessing it has to do with that file you've got there?"

"It does, in fact. Here." He handed her the file. "I think he's going to be a great match for Rebirth."

Grabbing the file, Liz immediately turned to the first page only to have her face turn white. Erskine had handed her a copy of a physical form, one of which she assumed he cleared for training. The physical form was longer than most, mainly because of the number of health problems this person faced. She looked up at the doctor with wide eyes before turning her attention back to the paper in her hand. It was then that she read the name.

**Steve Rogers**


End file.
